Problem Solver: State license takes some massaging

Backlog keeping Oak Park applicant from starting job

May 09, 2013|Jon Yates' "What's Your Problem?"

Stacey Kemerer tried to be proactive.

Before moving to Oak Park from Michigan earlier this year, the massage therapist went on the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation website and downloaded the forms to apply for a license.

She was able to print out all of the necessary paperwork except for one key document — her Illinois fingerprint card, which was not on the website.

Without the fingerprint card, the state would not process her application. And without her application, she could not legally get a job as a massage therapist in Illinois.

Kemerer said she called the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in January which promised to send her the paperwork.

When the documents arrived, the fingerprint card was not included.

With her move imminent, Kemerer waited until she was settled in Oak Park to obtain the fingerprint card. She submitted her application and the card Feb. 20 and received an email from the state confirming the documents were received.

Figuring she would have her license within a few weeks, Kemerer began looking for a job and landed a position in late March.

Problem was she still hadn't received her massage therapy license.

When she called the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to ask for an update, she was told it would take another several weeks. When those weeks passed she called again — and was again told it would take several more weeks, she said.

And so it went through April.

The last time she called, in early May, she was told it could take another six weeks to receive her license, she said.

Upset, Kemerer emailed What's Your Problem?

"They keep putting me off and putting me off and putting me off," she said. "I don't actually know that this is going to be done in six weeks because every time I call them they say it's going to be longer."

Kemerer said she has not been able to start her new job, and she's become worried her new boss will withdraw the offer.

"I'm now concerned that the lady who is waiting to employ me will find someone else and I'll have to start this whole (job search) process over again," she said.

The Problem Solver called Susan Hofer, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Hofer said massage therapy licenses are processed by the department's professional services division, which has a backlog.

Unlike some states, Illinois conducts a background check on everyone who applies for a massage therapy license, to ensure the applicant has no criminal convictions for prostitution, Hofer said.

That, coupled with staffing issues, means there is currently a 57-day lag between when the state receives a massage therapy application and when it is processed, the spokeswoman said.

"We would like to hire more people and have every hope of doing so, but we currently can't," Hofer said. "We do have requests for additional employees for professional services."

Hofer said the office is processing applications from the first week of February, meaning Kemerer's application will probably be reviewed in about two weeks.

If the application is in order and the background check comes back clean, the license could be issued and active a day or two after it is reviewed, Hofer said.

It wasn't exactly the news Kemerer was hoping for.

She said the employees that answer the phone at the state should not have told her in March that her application would be processed in a few weeks. She remains skeptical it will be completed before the end of May.

Even if it is, the turnaround time is "ridiculous," she said.

"Every time I call them they tell me something different," she said.

The Problem Solver will check back with Kemerer in a few weeks to see if she has obtained her license.